Incorrect speeding tickets

[Scott OSRS]

Fiancé part exchanged her old Fiesta for a new one at our local Ford dealership about a year ago.

She’s just received 3 NIPs through the post today. Suspect more may be to come, as they are all through a fixed speed camera on the same road at 9am 18/05/22, 6pm 18/05/22 and 9am 19/05/22. So sounds like some poor sod is unwittingly blasting through a speed camera on their daily commute.

Just wanted to confirm there is no way she can lose her licence even temporarily until she proves she isn’t to blame? As even a week without driving would be a nightmare as she needs the car to get to work (her work is a 30 min drive but nearly 2 hours on public transport). One of these tickets in particular is pretty bad (63 in a 40) so we’re worried she will get a ban through the post until she can prove it wasn’t her.

[AlexRS2782]

Sounds like a classic wind-up but here goes anyway.

How is this not really easy to prove. You said she got rid of her old car a year ago when she p/x'd it. Therefore unless everything was done cash innit bruv, no paperwork, then surely there's proof of all that when she bought the, you know, new car from the same dealer and paid for it, filled out paperwork, etc, and therefore also filled out paperwork declaring the other one was no longer hers / had gone to trade like the V5 tells you to? Or, let me guess, if this was done, she never received the confirmation that the car is no longer in her possession letter from the DVLA

Edit - no this sounds like a wind-up based on the 2 other threads which OP started and then never replied to. First thread about undertaking and if it was ok for them to drive up behind someone and flash their lights at them continuously / force them to move over, followed by another thread earlier this year where they claim they've only had a licence a couple of months and don't know the correct lane to use on a roundabout

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by AlexRS2782 on Friday 27th May 00:32

[BertBert]

Scott OSRS said:

Fianc part exchanged her old Fiesta for a new one at our local Ford dealership about a year ago.

She’s just received 3 NIPs through the post today. Suspect more may be to come, as they are all through a fixed speed camera on the same road at 9am 18/05/22, 6pm 18/05/22 and 9am 19/05/22. So sounds like some poor sod is unwittingly blasting through a speed camera on their daily commute.

Just wanted to confirm there is no way she can lose her licence even temporarily until she proves she isn’t to blame? As even a week without driving would be a nightmare as she needs the car to get to work (her work is a 30 min drive but nearly 2 hours on public transport). One of these tickets in particular is pretty bad (63 in a 40) so we’re worried she will get a ban through the post until she can prove it wasn’t her.

For posterity

[Scott OSRS]

AlexRS2782 said:

Sounds like a classic wind-up but here goes anyway.

How is this not really easy to prove. You said she got rid of her old car a year ago when she p/x'd it. Therefore unless everything was done cash innit bruv, no paperwork, then surely there's proof of all that when she bought the, you know, new car from the same dealer and paid for it, filled out paperwork, etc, and therefore also filled out paperwork declaring the other one was no longer hers / had gone to trade like the V5 tells you to? Or, let me guess, if this was done, she never received the confirmation that the car is no longer in her possession letter from the DVLA

Edit - no this sounds like a wind-up based on the 2 other threads which OP started and then never replied to. First thread about undertaking and if it was ok for them to drive up behind someone and flash their lights at them / force them to move over, followed by another thread earlier this year where they claim they've only had a licence a few months and don't know the correct lane to use on a roundabout

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thank you for your response. She has the letter from the DVLA confirming she is no longer the registered keeper of the vehicle, which confused me as to why the NIP’s have been sent to her, as I thought they send them to the registered keeper. I know it will ultimately be easy to prove it wasn’t her, but we were just worried about any potential temporary threat to her licence until she has done so.

Regarding the two threads, they were things I wasn’t sure of at the time, so I feel no shame in having asked the questions, as you won’t improve if you don’t ask. I did consider replying a courteous ‘Thank you’ to those who had took the time to answer my questions, but, by the time I got around to reading the responses, I feared this would have counted as bumping old threads, which is frowned upon on most forums.

Edited by Scott OSRS on Friday 27th May 00:09

[Scott OSRS]

Edited by Scott OSRS on Friday 27th May 00:50

[Scott OSRS]

[AlexRS2782]

Fair play OP, i take back the above - apologies

In any case as you have the DVLA letter, you've got proof that shows the car hasn't been hers for a very long period of time, and definitely not at the time of the recent speeding offences On that basis i can't see there being any threat to her licence.

Although that is concerning that the NIP's have still ended up with her considering she's not been the registered keeper for that long and the DVLA know it Is her old car currently showing as taxed / MOT'd (or not) on one of the online database sites? Just wondering whether it's still "in trade" and not registered with a current owner / trader so for some reason the DVLA have (wrongly - although not unsurprising given some of their admin mistakes of late) decided to furnish the previous owners details

[Scott OSRS]

AlexRS2782 said:

Fair play OP, i take back the above - apologies

In any case as you have the DVLA letter, you've got proof that shows the car hasn't been hers for a very long period of time, and definitely not at the time of the recent speeding offences On that basis i can't see there being any threat to her licence.

Although that is concerning that the NIP's have still ended up with her considering she's not been the registered keeper for that long and the DVLA know it Is her old car currently showing as taxed / MOT'd (or not) on one of the online database sites? Just wondering whether it's still "in trade" and not registered with a current owner / trader so for some reason the DVLA have (wrongly - although not unsurprising given some of their admin mistakes of late) decided to furnish the previous owners details

No worries.

I’ve checked the site and it has been taxed and MOT’d for nearly a year now, so I am a little surprised that the DVLA still have her details attached to it. I have a day off tomorrow, so I will give the DVLA and the number on the NIP a call to try to get it sorted. Guessing they might only speak with her for data protection, but worth a try since she’ll be at work all day.

I am glad you think she will be ok. In hindsight we probably panicked too much, as I am guessing this sort of stuff happens a lot. But it’s just that initial shock of arriving home late to 3 NIPs on the doorstep, and nobody to call about it since it’s out of office hours.

[edthefed]

Does the DVLA acknowledgement show the correct reg number for her old car ?
DVLA are not immune from mistakes and and a simple keying error see 1 become 7, 6 become 8 etc !
The only way she can be prevented from driving is either a court imposed disqualification or a DVLA imposed suspension / revocation of licence

[martinbiz]

OP I shouldn’t worry about trying to contact them there is no need
What she does need to do first is to respond to the s172 part that’s asks for driver info within the prescribed 28 day period or risk committing a separate offence which carries a lot of points and nasty fines. They need to be filled in and signed by the person they are addressed to and sent together with covering letter explaining you no longer have the car and also a copy of of the DVLA letter and you will be very unlikely to hear anything further

[Aretnap]

At a wild guess the car has changed hands within the motor trade several times since she p/xd it, and is now being used by a trader as a private vehicle or courtesy car.

I believe that when a car is in trade like this, the DVLA don't really try to keep track of the multiple movements between traders; rather a check shows the car as "in trade" and gives the details of the last "proper" keeper. Hence your sister getting the letters as the first point of contact.

Happened to me once, many months after I traded in an old car. I replied to the S172 with the details of the dealership I traded it in at, and never heard anything again.

[Scott OSRS]

edthefed said:

Does the DVLA acknowledgement show the correct reg number for her old car ?
DVLA are not immune from mistakes and and a simple keying error see 1 become 7, 6 become 8 etc !
The only way she can be prevented from driving is either a court imposed disqualification or a DVLA imposed suspension / revocation of licence

I’ve checked and it is definitely the correct reg.

[Scott OSRS]

Spoke to DVLA this morning, who said that there is no current registered keeper of the car, and that they’ve opened a case to try to get to the bottom of why. She said, due to the number/severity of offences in a short span, she’ll email my fiancé an emergency letter stating that she definitely isn’t the registered keeper and wasn’t at the time of the offences, for us to include in the envelope as proof when we send the NIPs back.

I then rang the number on the NIP, which put me through to South Yorkshire police’s traffic offence team. Policewoman I spoke to said to fill out the NIPs naming the garage we part exchanged with as owners, and to include the letter from DVLA as proof. She said once they have seen the proof from DVLA, they will remove the pending offences from her account and forward the NIPs on to the garage.

We’ll get it sent off by recovered delivery today, because I’m guessing if it is being driven by someone dodgy who gets themselves in a hit and run, it would be our door the police would be knocking on as it stands.

[Canon_Fodder]

Well done OP, you've dealt with that very well..

[Maxdecel]

Scott OSRS said:

Edited by Scott OSRS on Friday 27th May 00:50

Reassuring isn't it DVLA Send the above then a year later pass on your details as the keeper ! Left hand not knowing what right hand's doing.
Pleased you've got a quick resolution.

[solo2]

Maxdecel said:

Scott OSRS said:

Edited by Scott OSRS on Friday 27th May 00:50

Reassuring isn't it DVLA Send the above then a year later pass on your details as the keeper ! Left hand not knowing what right hand's doing.
Pleased you've got a quick resolution.

Not really. OP's other half is the last recorded keeper, they know who they passed the car on to DVLA do not if the car has only been put in the trade and not registered on to someone else since.

By naming the Ford Garage the fines will go to them, they will return them in the traders/auction company who they sold the car to and so on and so forth till it gets to the person concerned.

Incredibly slow process but it is what it is.

[martinbiz]

Maxdecel said:

Reassuring isn't it DVLA Send the above then a year later pass on your details as the keeper ! Left hand not knowing what right hand's doing.
Pleased you've got a quick resolution.

Not really anything to do with the DVLA being at fault, as the car has no registered keeper at present, they will have been asked by the police for the last known registered keeper, happens all the time, it will then go through possibly multiple bits of correspondence until a driver is identified, the good part for the driver is the process of getting to them may have taken so long it is now too late to prosecute them for the original offence and

[jondude]

Keeping the letter you received from the DVLA is your passport to freedom here. Although nice to know they also will send copies of it if you lose it.

Nothing like a good old fashioned paper letter to end discussions.

[p4cks]

A company I used to work for used their KADOE link to obtain the names and addresses of drivers (circa 600 per day) and we were lucky to get 70% 'hits' of which we probably received 10% of those back from the name the RK the DVLA gave us as it was incorrect.

How can they be so bad?!

[johnao]

Aretnap said:

At a wild guess the car has changed hands within the motor trade several times since she p/xd it, and is now being used by a trader as a private vehicle or courtesy car.

I believe that when a car is in trade like this, the DVLA don't really try to keep track of the multiple movements between traders; rather a check shows the car as "in trade" and gives the details of the last "proper" keeper. Hence your sister getting the letters as the first point of contact.

Happened to me once, many months after I traded in an old car. I replied to the S172 with the details of the dealership I traded it in at, and never heard anything again.

Exactly right. The new owner has failed to register with the DVLA for whatever reason. In this situation, when the police ask the DVLA for the keeper’s details for the s172, the DVLA send them the last known keeper on their database, notwithstanding the fact that they have it on record that the last known keeper has sold the car! Unbelievable, but true. It happened to me a couple of years ago.

Don’t bother contacting the DVLA, they’re not interested. Send the completed s172 back to the issuing police force, enclose an explanatory letter, and you’ll probably never hear anything about it again. The police are used to the DVLA doing this all the time.

It’s annoying and frustrating. And can also, as in your case, be somewhat concerning. But unfortunately, it’s what we get when we have a completely dysfunctional government department like the DVLA, or whatever they call themselves these days.